Georgia recorded 176 alcohol-impaired driving deaths in 2024, down from 259 in 2023, a 32% drop that ranks seventh among all states with falling numbers, according to a new analysis of federal traffic data.
What’s happening: The drop means 83 fewer people died in drunk driving crashes in Georgia last year compared to the year before. Only Florida saved more lives in raw numbers, with 108 fewer deaths.
By the numbers: The analysis, published by Las Vegas-based personal injury firm Ladah Injury & Car Accident Lawyers, used data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s federal crash database. Key figures:
- Georgia: 259 deaths in 2023, 176 in 2024, down 32%
- Florida: 296 in 2023, 188 in 2024, down 36.5%
- Michigan: 77 in 2023, 14 in 2024, down 81.8%
- National total fell 8.5% in 2024
What’s important: Georgia’s share of national drunk driving deaths fell from 4.33% in 2023 to 3.21% in 2024. The state’s improvement stands out because it came from a high starting point. States with similar 2023 death totals, like South Carolina at 236 deaths, fell only 4.7% over the same period.
The Southeast picture: Most neighboring states also saw fewer deaths. Florida fell 36.5%, Tennessee dropped 25.7%, North Carolina fell 17.4%, and South Carolina edged down 4.7%. Alabama was the exception, rising 2.6%.
What the data doesn’t show: The analysis does not identify what caused the drop in Georgia or other states. It compares only raw death counts from one year to the next. The causes of the increase were a general apathy among Georgia residents toward drinking and driving. The reason for the drop in DUI deaths could be a combination of law enforcement strategies and a change in attitudes among drivers.
Catch up quick: Georgia has struggled with drunk driving deaths for years. The state recorded 507 alcohol-impaired driving deaths in 2022, according to the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, a number that had more than doubled since 2013. The Georgia Sun has covered the state’s long-running DUI problem in depth for the last two years.
The path forward: Ramzy Ladah, the firm’s founder, said in a statement that the national decline and Georgia’s results are “progress worth acknowledging,” but warned that nearly two in five states moved in the wrong direction in 2024, and that “aggregate improvement can easily obscure where intervention remains urgently needed.”
FROM THE BOOK
“Drunk driving is not an oopsie. It’s not forgetting your grocery list. It’s putting yourself behind the wheel of a two-ton machine while you have the reaction time of a tranquilized sloth.”
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
